READERS' CHOICE #46: THE DESCENT (2005)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

9.5

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Yes, the first time was about 5 years ago

BEST SEQUENCE

If you haven't seen The Descent yet and you think you'd like to, stop reading and watch it. My favourite moment of this movie is an extremely startling jump scare, one of my favourite in all of horror movies, and I think it would be most effective for someone who has no prior knowledge. I'll talk about it in more detail further down.

BEST LINE

"Listen, the worst thing that could have happened to you has already happened, OK? And you're still here. This is just a poxy cave and there's nothing left to be afraid of, I promise." - One character trying to calm another one down after a tunnel collapses, very unaware of how wrong she actually is. Nice usage of "poxy," though

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

86%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"Deft direction and strong performances from its all-female cast guide The Descent, a riveting, claustrophobic horror film."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"A caving expedition goes horribly wrong, as the explorers become trapped and ultimately pursued by a strange breed of predators."

THOUGHTS

• I love the way this movie shifts gears. It starts as a very grounded women vs. nature story. The thrills are definitely there while they're trying to navigate their way out of an unknown cave system, the danger feels incredibly real, and claustrophobes need not apply. I haven't seen Deliverance in a long time, but The Descent strongly reminded me of that (and I'll revisit Deliverance eventually, it's very high up on the AFI list). And then, when it feels like that concept was ably explored, we basically jump directly into an entirely different genre of movie, equally thrilling but in a totally different way. It kind of feels like two different movies for the price of one. Some might be bothered by the inconsistency, but I think it works beautifully
• Side note, if you ever want to see the most jarring gear shift movie I can think of, watch Audition. It's also one of those movies that works best if you have no idea what's coming, so I shall say no more except that I wish it had gotten voted into my list
• And now I'll speak in plainer terms. If you've seen The Descent you might know exactly what I'm picking for my favourite scene. It's the first time the women are attacked by a crawler (the movie's name for the monsters). Seen through their own camcorder footage with night vision, it pans around the group of women, and suddenly THERE IT IS RIGHT BEHIND THEM!
• I often eat and drink while watching movies, and when I'm watching scary movies I have a ridiculous concern that I might get so startled I'll just, like, THROW my plate or my glass. I don't think it's happened yet. But the first time I watched this five years ago, that moment was probably the closest I've come to just hurling my dinner across the room
• This was my second time watching it, and I remember liking it a lot the first time, but man alive, I did not remember how gory and violent it gets once the crawlers enter the picture! Things get pretty brutal!
• I've never broken a bone, but if I ever do, I pray it won't be of the "bone poking through the skin" variety. Whenever that happens in a movie I cringe so hard
• The movie also starts with one of the most visceral, terrifying car crashes I've seen on film
• Extremely effective choices were made with the lighting, keeping us looking into the shadows and adding to the nightmarish and surreal feeling of the film. There were some very disorienting camera angles used as well
• Finally, this movie was released with an extended ending in the UK, cut from the US release because it was too depressing, and yeah, it's pretty bleak. I prefer it as the proper ending for the movie, though

Up next: Jake Gyllenhaal creeps it up in Nightcrawler